Team Ibiki
by Anime Nightwing39
Summary: Ibiki didn't want a Genin team. He was planning on spending the rest of his life as a peaceful torturer. But the Hokage, and the council, had other plans. SMART! Naruto, MEDICAL! Shino, STRONG! Hinata, GREY! Ibiki. (You guys bullied me into doing this still. I was gonna quit but I guess I can't lmao.)


**Hey guys, this is a new story I'm trying out, so I really hope you enjoy. And don't worry, I haven't forgotten about 'A Leaf Buried in The Sand', it's just on hold for now.**

 **Now if you have any questions, comments, or concerns, please post them in the review box and I'll make sure to respond to them in the next chapter.**

 _ **Thoughts are in italics**_

 **Breaks are represented by *****

 **Make sure to review! The more you do the faster I'll update! Thank you!**

Harsh boots cracked against the wooden floor. Crisp and clean. Ibiki Morino straightened his back to match, as his hands folded behind them. As he met the man in front of his eyes, he bowed deeply, and fluidly, before snapping up and stepping back respectfully.

"Hokage-sama." Ibiki said evenly. "What can I do for you?" His expression was as blank as he could make it, far from his usual force and grit. It had to be, when he was summoned to the Hokage's office at such a time, though he darned not look out the window, he knew the sun was not even up, though it was close.

The Hokage's visage did not break from its stony place. He made a small motion with his hand, and Ibiki swallowed as he could hear the ANBU close the doors behind him. It was a respect, he knew. ANBU are never heard unless they wish to be. It was not comforting.

The Hokage's arm snapped forward, throwing a scroll at him. Ibiki's hand snatched the piece out of the air with practiced ease, looking onto it. It simply read-

 **Mission Scroll:**

 **Rank: A**

 **Type: Protection**

 **Train and protect Genin Naruto Uzumaki, Genin Hinata Hyuga, and Genin Shino Aburame until Chunin. Instil Konoha loyalty's into them.**

 **Mission completion parameters: Within 1 year; must not take on any other assignments before or during mission.**

 **Solo:**

Ibiki forced his himself not to glare at the scroll.

The Hokage started talking, unprompted. "As you are aware, you recently reached Jonin rank. And as a Jounin, I am certain you are ready for this mission. One I wouldn't trust to just anybody."

Ibiki's mind raced. He didn't have time to play teacher to any genin, and certainly not to the point they are chunin.

"You will of course have to resign from your position the T&I director, at least temporarily. The team assignments for the young minds will be in a week, so I suggest lining up a replacement within that time."

Silence permeated the room. The many feet from Ibiki and the Hokage's desk felt longer than usual, like there was more distance.

The Hokage himself was simply looking at him, analyzing his facial features and minute twitches.

"May I speak freely Hokage-Sama?"

Hiruzen considered it for a second, raising a singular slim gray eyebrow as his only reaction. It was an odd request from Ibiki, someone who had never in his entire career even insinuated that he wanted to question or protest his Kage.

All the more reason he should allow it, Hiruzen supposed. "Yes." He said simply.

"Why are you assigned me this mission? And more importantly, why is this a mission at all? I cannot train, and From my own accounts all three are incredibly loyal to the village, especially Uzumaki."

The aging Hokage hummed. "Yes. Incredibly so." He agreed. Nodding his head. "But this isn't about reality. It's about the council."

Ibiki couldn't stop his eyes from narrowing into slits. "Politics?" He asked.

The Hokage nodded gravley. "Yes. After the incident with the scroll of seals, and Naruto being reviled his prisoner, the council is worried about Naruto's loyalties.

Ibki was confused, so like the interrogator he is, he asked questions. "And the other two? Why are they on the team? And if I recall did Hatake not lay claim to the Jinchuriki? Would he not make a better sensei than I?"

"Recent evidence has come to light that Hinata could have been emotionally abused by her father. And we recently had to quell an assassin sent her way, believed to be from her father, so her sister can become the clan heir."

Ibiki didn't say anything, encouraging the Hokage to speak more, not that he needed any.

"You have several degrees in Psychology, Ibki. You are most likely the only one who can help point her in the right direction as a shinobi, and make her strong enough to fight her own clan. Naruto is there for similar reasons. With the council's doubt about him, they need someone that can be trusted to make him what we need. Besides," He ended.

"Kakashi cannot be totally trusted to not reveal things that should not be revealed to young Naruto."

Ibiki didn't say anything for several seconds. "And the Aburame? Do they doubt his loyalty?"

Hiruzen smirked. "Not at all. He is there as a peer, someone who is unquestionably loyal. The council believes his attitude will bleed into the other two."

Ibiki felt dread creep up from the pit of his stomach. He could tell this was something thoroughly thought over, it didn't feel like something he could wriggle out of.

"Can I fail them? If they are incompetent?"

"No." Hiruzen said simply.

Ibiki didn't know what to say to that, ao he said nothing.

"You'll make a fine Sensei, Ibiki. Sakumo would be very proud." Sarutobi smiled in a way he hoped was fatherly.

Ibiki pushed back the knee jerk reaction of anger and rage when his late sensei's name. It wasn't appropriate right now. Still, the Hokage caught the change in his mood from stupefied to inraged very quickly, and capitalized on it immediately.

"Please Ibiki, even if you do not have the best memories of your sensei, at least give him the pride you of becoming to these young children what he was not."

Ibiki didn't know what to say. On one hand, the idea seemed enticing, to become an amazing teacher and leader to the genin in the way Marasu wasn't, if for no other reason than to spite him. But on the other hand…

"Hokage-sama, If I may...the last time I talked to a child was when I was one myself. I would never know how to be a sensei."

Lord Third shook his head. "Exactly why you are perfect. They all, my boy Naruto especially, need discipline in a firm way not all Jonin would be willing to give, while still wanting them to become better than yourself, as should be the goal of all instructors."

"And that is what we must complete with this team, Ibiki. A team constructed by political machinations it may be, but I have a feeling about them. The same feeling I had with the Sannin, the same feeling we all had when Inoichi, Shikaku, and Choza met for the first time. The feeling that these children will one day carve their path through history in a trail of fire and glory. And it is our responsibility to direct that path in the name of Konoha."

Ibiki almost rolled his eyes. Pretty words they may be, they were most likely the ones Hiruzen told every newly minted Jounin sensei."

"May I have their academy files? Hiruzen-Sama?" Ibiki asked hesitantly, understanding he wasn't going to get out of this.

He nodded easily, and slid three files across the desk. Ibiki stared at the files, his mind hesitating to believe this is real. His career, his his time, would be entirely engulfed by these children. He wanted to be mad, but he wasn't sure who to be mad at.

It wasn't the children's fault, or the Hokage's, really. He supposed he could be mad at the council, but even then they were just doing what they believed is right for the village. It was just life, he supposed.

"Ibiki?" Hokage asked, looking concerned, yet Ibiki could see the warning betheath his words.

Ibiki shook himself out of his thoughts, walking forward swiftly to retrieve the files, which he promised to look over as soon as he got home. He nodded once at the aging man.

The Hokage looked back down at his desk, not meeting his eyes. Not as a sign of weakness, but of dismissal. Ibiki had his mission, and he knew he was to complete it to the best of his ability.

Later, well into the morning, Ibiki sat at his dining room table , all three files laid out before him. He rubbed his forehead to fight off his growing headache and exhaustion. From his position as a Torture and Interrogation specialist, he had seen many messed up whack jobs in his time, and had turned even more people _into_ messed up wack jobs. So he was no stranger to mental illness, but there was something different about seeing it in children, something...off putting.

The more he delved into these childrens files, the less trepidatious he was about teaching them in the first place. He began to look at the children as a project, something to make sure succeed as shinobi and in life. And the more he began to get attached to them. He still would rather not be a sensei, but he was warming up to it.

The children though...they had a lot of problems.

Hinata Hyuga, for starters, was deduced to have crippling anxiety and depression, some academy teachers even went so far to say she should never have spent so long trying to become a kunoichi, when everyone apparently knew she would either kill herself or, fail and become a civilian.

 _I'll have to spend most of my time teaching her offense, as opposed to the other two._ Ibiki thought blankly, making plans in his head for her.

On top of that, she seemed to be completely obsessed with Uzumaki. According to eyewitnesses, she stalked him several times a week after school, watching him walk into his apartment before looking at him with her byakugan for several more minutes.

Besides being disturbing on several levels, it was a huge breach of privacy to the young boy that he most likely did not know about, and the fact that she either didn't know, or didn't care, was concerning. It wasn't normal for a young girl to sacrifice her social status among her clan and classmates by showing affection to the local pariah.

It implied a total dissociation with society, and an imagined kindred spirit type situation with Naruto, which is not good considering how his life is.

The only good thing about her behavior seemed to be the fact that she seemed to genuinely love and care for the young man, though Ibiki also noted she never seemed to find the courage to approach him, which is unfortunate. God knows he needed it.

It read that, several times when a teacher in the academy would call on her she would freeze in place, silently shaking until the teacher moved on. Though it also noted she seemed gain confidence in speaking and actions from other confident people, Naruto in particular.

Physically, she was superb. Her taijutsu was good for her age, despite what her father said in his reports, and her grades were good. If he was able to get her to get over her confidence issues, she could become a force to be reckoned with in taijutsu, and if he gave her some weights to add force to her hits…well she just might be able to crush her cousin and show him what fate really is.

Personally, Ibiki would also diagnose her with Social Anxiety Phobia, Obsessive Personality Disorder, Selective Mutism, Stuttering, and General Depression.

Ibiki absentmindedly took a bite of the ration bar he had set aside. It was mostly bland and had an odd, crumbly texture, it was all he had at the moment. He wasn't willing to cook something better until he was done planning his new students training regimens.

Next he looked to the middle file, open to Naruto's crazily smiling face. He was probably the worse out of the three, Ibiki figured. Growing up almost completely alone through circumstances not in his control, Naruto became a directionless ruffian throughout his childhood. Without proper teaching and medication, he was always moving and never seemed to be able to focus.

The few people Naruto did have, Like Iruka Umino and The Hokage, Naruto desperately attached on to, seemingly afraid of them leaving him.

His dream, which he shouted out for everyone to hear, seemed far fetched, but Umino's reports showed that he fed off people encouraging it. Iruka reported that once he had once told Naruto he believed he could one day become Hokage, Naruto was able to study as hard as he could and managed to get a 96 on his next test. It was the only time that happened.

Ibiki himself could remember when a rumor was going around that Iruka had gotten drunk at a local bar, proclaiming his pride for his student through loud songs and dares of strength to other chunin.

 _Now if only he could manage to put that compassion directly into the kids education._ Ibiki thought.

It was also worth noting that Naruto was completely obsessed with Ramen, something Ibiki would have to fix. He had a suspicion it had started as a need to conserve money and resources while living alone, and devolved into an odd quirky obsession he had even when he later had saved more money.

If Ibiki had to guess, he would say Naruto had Attention Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, Extreme Inductive Attaching Disorder, and Obsessive Personality Disorder.

Looking over past Chunin reports, he seemed to have managed some impressive 'pranks' on many civilians and low level shinobi.

 _Replace the paint cane with acid, and the pie's with kunai, and these could be deadly if practiced enough._ Ibiki thought in very sight amusement.

 _And if I'm reading correctly he has evaded Chunin and Genin several times after playing said pranks, showing impressive stealth skills…_

And if Ibiki looked a little further down the paper, he could see that Naruto's scores in pure strategy exercises were incredibly unorthodox but exceedingly effective.

But those seemed to be his only reputable skills, it seemed.

He was willing to bet at least some of the reason Naruto was dead last in his class was because of how the teachers either gave him bad grades purposely or refused to teach him, but that couldn't account for all of it. It certainly couldn't account for his absolutely garbage taijutsu, weapons handling, chakra manipulation, his continued pranking of the teachers, and disrupting of class.

He moved on to the last child.

Shino Aburame, was relatively much more healthy in comparison, though that was not saying much. The young boy was completely solitary in his lifestyle, even more so than others of his clan.

Shino seemed to only go outside his clan compound to go to school, never seemed to interact with any children his own age, and spent most of his time training and studying insects, which might be a cause for concern for a civilian, it was normal for the children of the Aburame clan.

Other than that, he seemed perfectly healthy and happy. With just some bad ways of portraying it, Ibiki supposed.

His academy teachers reported good, solid taijutsu, but his most notable trait was his strong draw to the sciences. What little science the academy did teach was mostly physiological in nature, having to do with what parts of the body to stab and such. That, combined with his 98% correction rate on his written exams and interest in chakra manipulation all point to training as a med nin.

Ibiki read a quote from one academy instructor in Shino's third year.

 _ **While talking about anatomy and the most vulnerable parts of the human body, Mr. Aburame raised his hand to speak for the first time this year, he clearly expressed an interest in the topic and engaged in an in class discussion with me throughout the period.**_

 _ **After class, I talked to him about the possibility of offering some medical ninjutsu so he can study the subject in a productive way, but he declined. When asked why, he simply said that he did not have any time for it.**_

 _ **It is my professional opinion that Mr. Aburame is afraid of delving to far into topics too far outside of his clans specialties so he will not disrupt anything within the family. Although I have no proof, he seems to believe the best way he can help the village is by keeping his head down and keeping to what he knows.**_

Ibiki raised an eyebrow at the file, chomping another bite out of his ration bar.

 _If he really doesn't wish to pursue the field of medicine, than I'll have to trick him into it._ Ibiki thought.

 _We already are gonna have a taijutsu offense specialist in Hinata, and Naruto will act as support and strategy, but we need a medic. Shino is perfect for the role, and frankly, I need to do what's best for the village._

Ibiki sighed and looked at the clock.

11:47 am

 _Damn I need to get to bed…_ Ibiki cracked his neck. He had a lot of work to do. Just as he was rising from his stiff chair, he caught sight of the sentence 'newly acquired Kage Bunshin jutsu' from Naruto's file.

 _Well...it'll be just a few more minutes._ Ibiki said as he sat back down, cringing at the sound his back made as it compressed back into the seated position.

At that same time, one Naruto Uzumaki was enjoying a relaxing day with his favorite teacher, at his favorite place, Ichiraku Ramen.

"Ah yeah!" Naruto yelled as he broke apart his chopsticks and delved into his food with vigor. He shoveled the noodles down his gullet in a speed similar to a shunshin, slurping down the food at an inhuman level with gross sounds of quenching and thick swallowing.

Iruka looked on in mild disgust, but mostly amusement at Naruto's behavior. He was used to it by now, after all. He patted Naruto's back in a brotherly way, expertly dodging out of the line of flying broth from Naruto's path of destruction.

Quickly, Naruto finished with a satisfied look ont his face. Wiping off the last remnants of Ramen from his mouth on is sleeve, Naruto looked at his former teacher with joy.

"Thanks for taking me out Iruka sensei!" Naruto shouted into Iruka's ear. He simply laughed jovially, rubbing Naruto's head affectionately.

"Any time, Naruto. It's been so long since we've been here that I needed to go out at least one last time before you officially become a genin." Iruka looked slightly guilty as he said that, no doubt trying to remember when the last time they had visited here together was. It must have been months.

Naruto waved him off with an exaggerated hand movement. "Don't worry about it sensei! Your a busy guy! I bet you have tons of boring teacher stuff to do." He nodded in what he hoped was an understanding way.

Behind that though, Naruto was sad and disappointed that they hadn't met up like this before. But he can be sad later, for now he's just gonna enjoy this time.

A tick appeared on Iruka's head, and he angrily slammed his fist down to the top of Naruto's head.

"You brat!" Iruka shouted.

Naruto cried out in pain as he cradled his injured skull in his hands. He pouted, "That was MEAN Iruka-Sensei!"

Iruka rolled his eyes and settled back into his own bowl.

 _Naruto...you never change._ He thought with a smile.

Shino neatly wrote in his journal about his research. He glanced back into the microscope to the beetle carcass he was analyzing.

 _ **Subject seems to have an extended thorax and femur, implying a larger birth sack. Subject could possibly breed faster offspring, for emergency situations.**_ Shino wrote in the journal.

He made a note to inspect further, perhaps his mother will find this information useful for the clans techniques.

He startled slightly when he heard a knock on his door. Moving out of his position and stepping up, he slid his classic Shoji style door, to the face of his cousin, Shoro Aburame.

"Hello, Shino. Will you be joining the family for early feast?" She asked, petting her large pet moth on its head.

Shino hesitated, and looked behind him longingly at his research. As an Aburame, he knew it was his duty to research for the family, but he was hungry.

"Uncle Shiba says that you need to take a break, Shino." The younger girl said, expression solid.

"Yes." Shino said finally, after sending his kikaichu to the dining room and they came back to him reporting they will be having tomato salad.

She nodded, and the two of them traveled slowly to the dining room.

"Do you want to pet him?" Shoro asked him.

Shino smiled slightly, and pat the large insect on its furry head.

Harsh jabs of chakra enhanced strikes slammed onto the pole, sweat poured down Hinata's forehead.

She dodged an imaginary strike, delivering a palm slam into into the center. Splinters flew everywhere as she did, and her byakugan flared as she focused on her attacks.

 _As long as I keep this up, I'll be a good genin. I'll make Father proud!_

Just as she was beginning to get into her training, flashes of her failures in her fights against Neji and Hanabi struck across her eyes.

The sight of Hanabi looking guilty as she tossed her around like a rag doll, completely demolishing her defense.

The sight of Neji cruely twisting her arm until a sickening ' _POP'_ erupted from her socket, and knocking her to the ground without any care.

The sight of her father's disappointed face staring down at her, glaring as if she was something to be scrapped off his foot and not his first born daughter.

Hinata's hands shook as she leaned against the training pole, the dirt of the ground smudging her outfit. She didn't even know when she had fallen to her knees.

Quickly, Hinata got up and rushed back into her room, shutting the door behind her and hastily pulling out the lunch the servants had prepared for her on her table.

She didn't care what she was eating, she was more than distracted by the photo of her mother, laying innocently on her bedside table, in a smooth porcelain frame.

 _That keeps happening._ She thought. _The closer I get to team assignments, the more attacks I'm having._

Hinata tried to think of Naruto, and his smiling face immediately calmed her down some. The thought of Naruto's strength, even in the face of so much adversity, have her strength.

 _Maybe I'll even be o the same team as him…_ She thought wistfully.

 **:ABOUT ONE WEEK LATER,ACADEMY CLASSROOM:**

Naruto collapsed into his chair, adjacent to Sasuke, who merely gave him a grunt of greeting.

He tried to shift farther away from Sakura and Ino, who were fighting with fists and words over who got to sit next to Sasuke, so much so that they didn't seek to notice Naruto was already sitting in the seat.

 _Man...Sakura-Chan's amazing, but she's scary!_ Naruto thought with more than a little fear.

Putting them out of his mind, Naruto let his thoughts drift to team assignments.

 _It's finally happening!_ Naruto thought excitedly. _The day I get assigned a genin squad!_ He looked around the classroom subtly, taking in all the other genin around him.

 _Who's gonna be on my team?_ Naruto wondered as he looked upon the sea of graduates.

 _Maybe Shikamaru?_ Naruto questioned as he looked at a spikey haired brown haired boy, sleeping on top of the desk.

 _Or maybe her?_ Naruto wondered as he looked at a shy, dark blue haired girl in the back of the class, timidly poking her fingers together.

 _She seems ok...I guess._ Naruto thought a little hesitantly. If he remembered correctly, her name was Hinata.

 _I think anyway...maybe it was Hogai? No, no it's definitely Hinata. Probably._

He glanced next to him to see Sasuke Mcduck Butt with his eyes closed, hands folded under his chin.

 _That arrogant bastard! He thinks he's so cool, I could kick his ass right now! He better be on my team just so I can show him who's top dog!_

Just before he was about to take himself up on that, Iruka walked into the room, slamming the door behind him.

"Alright brats SHUT UP!" Iruka yelled. The children continued yammering. Iruka rolled his eyes, before making three hand seals and his patented, 'Big Head Genjutsu'. Iruka's head swelled up like a balloon to thirty times its original size, he shouted again, this time his voice seemingly enhanced by the genjutsu.

" _I SAID SHUT UP!"_ Some of the people in front grabbed their ears in pain as everyone was visibly quelled into silence. Ino and Sakura had settled into their seats, both glaring at eachother.

As soon as the children calmed down, Iruka plastered a pleasant look onto his face _. "_ Thank you!" He said.

Moving into the center of the room. Iruka placed one hand on his hip looking over all of the children fondly.

"Now before we continue, I want to say that I am incredibly proud of all of you. Whatever life brings you, and wherever you end up, remember the values you were taught in this classroom, and I'll know you'll do great things."

His face became serious as he looked into al their eyes individually. "Remember where you come from, Always do what's best for the greater good, and above all else remember to always stick by your comrades."

Naruto touched the headband on his forehead with more than a little reverence. This is why he was so proud to be be a konoha shinobi. The values he was raised with, his values, are the most important things to him.

"The Will Of Fire burns bright in us all!" Iruka placed his fist over his heart as he said that.

" _The Will Of Fire burns bright in us all!"_ They all shouted back to him, fists over their own hearts.

Iruka wiped a tear from his eye, and got started.

"Now, as there are 27 graduates, there will be nine teams, starting at team 2. Team 2 will be Iochi Kakuei, Nagano Shizu, and Goda Kai, under sensei Genma Shiranui.

 _Man I hope I'm on Sakura-Chans team!_ Naruto thought.

"Team 3 will be Muto Suzo, Sanda Tadayoshi, Fuki Kunio, under sensei Inuzuka Tsume."

 _I'm gonna start going on super fool missions soon! I better pack tons of ramen and weapons…_

"Team 4 will be Sasuke Uchiha, Ino Yamanaka, and Kiba Inuzuka, under sensei Kakashi Hatake."

Ino screeched behind Naruto in pure happiness, and his sensitive ears practically curled in on itself in pain.

 _Man I can't imagine being that obsessed with someone that much._ Naruto thought.

"Team 5 will be Shikamaru Nara, Choji Akimichi, and Sakura Haruno, under Kurenai Yuhi."

"DAMN IT! I wanted to be on Sakura-Chan's team!" Naruto yelled, punching the desk so hard cracks appeared.

Sakura clocked him on the head painfully. "Idiot!" She yelled.

"I don't belong to you!" She yelled at him, an angry glare on his face.

Naruto whimpered and let his mind wander away. Soon, Iruka was calling his name.

"Team 10 is Naruto Uzumaki, Hinata Hyuga, and Shino Aburame, under sensei Ibiki Morino." Iruka said.

"Huh?" Naruto said confused.

"Now," Iruka said with a smile. "Your sensei's should be here soon, so please wait here."

Naruto glanced behind him at his new teammates, Shino seemed completely unaffected from Iruka's statement, but Hinata ( _That IS her name!")_ looked completely frightened.

Naruto grimaced. _Man I didn't think she hated me THAT much…_ He thought with melancholy.

He settled into his seat to wait for his sensei.

Hinata couldn't believe her ears. Never in a million years did she truly dare hope she would be on a team with Naruto.

She looked down at him, and her breath caught in her throat as he looked back at her. She was barely able to keep from fainting as he looked into her eyes. His warm…blue eyes…

Hinata felt heat rise to her cheeks, and she closed her eyes, her head hitting the table with a THUNK.

When she woke up several minutes later, Shino was tapping her awake. She opened her eyes to see the tall young man in front of her, looking somewhat exasperated at her. She felt heat rise to her cheeks.

She looked behind him to see Naruto standing by the door with a giant of a man, he must have been at least six foot four! He was wearing a dark black leather trench coat, over grey/blue button up outfit with many pockets. His face was hard, with two scars running parallel across it, and an expression of passive annoyance carved into it.

"Come on Hinata!" Naruto yelled impatiently, tapping his foot on the ground. "Our sensei wants us to meet outside!" Naruto gestured to the man beside him, which must have been the aforementioned sensei, Ibiki.

"C-coming!" Hinata said quickly, jumping out of her seat and racing to the doorway, apologizing on the way to the other students she bumped into on the way. Shino followed with a sigh.

They all followed silently, even Naruto had the sense of mind to be quiet when around such a serious man, at least for the time being.

As they all made their way outside the academy to the front steps. Ibiki looked at them each and Hinata pushed the nervousness she felt down into her stomach.

 _This is no time to be weak._ She thought. _I have to be strong! I'm a ninja now!_

"Sit." Ibiki said simply.

Hinata and Shino followed the instruction immediately, but Naruto hesitated for a second, even then though his resolution only lasted for a second against the cold hard stare of Ibiki, so he too sat on the steps. Their sensei continued to stand.

"Standard pressure is for us to introduce ourselves. But that's a little unnecessary in this case."

"Whad'ya mean, scarface?" Naruto asked.

Ibiki glared at the boy in pure fury, and Naruto quickly backpedaled.

"Ah sorry! Whad'ya mean, scarface _sensei?_ " He asked in a much more respectful tone.

Shino sighed in an all suffering way. "His name is Ibiki Morino." He told the orange child.

Iniki decided to move on. "It won't be necessary, because I already know everything about each of you. _Everything_."

Hinata's breath hitched.

 _Everything? Everything about me?_ She thought with fear.

"I have looked at all of your academic records, interviewed many of your associates, and performed extensive surveillance on each of you. Your skills are are now an open book to me."

Ibiki continued. "And do you want to know what I think? Surprisingly, you are more," He looked at Hinata and Shino. "Or less," He looked at Naruto. "Good."

Naruto bristled and moved to stand, but Shino grabbed his arm to stop him. When Naruto was still standing up, Shino was forced to use two hands to push him back into his seat.

"But you aren't good enough." Ibiki told them.

"You see, you are not Genin." He spoke through their shocked and confused faces. "After the academy, there is one more test, one that can be designed by their Sensei for the type of team they are designing. If they fail this test, they will be sent back to the academy's first year, to start over."

In actuality, Konoha couldn't afford to let semi trained civilians to run rampant in the village, so they would be sent to the Fire Daimyo to become a samurai, but telling them they would be going back to the academy was a common method of making them try harder.

"Every once in awhile, under the Jonin senseis judgment, the students can pass and become genin without a test, because they're simply that good."

The three got hopeful looks on their faces.

"This is not one of those circumstances."

Their faces fell to varying degrees.

"So this is your test. You must find one fact about me in the next three hours, or you will fail. When you believe you have come up with one piece of info, you can contact me by throwing one of these flares into the air." Ibiki tossed a bundle of flares into Shino's hands.

"Time stars now." He said, before shunshining away in a blur of speed.

Immediately Naruto snagged one or the flares from Shino, and lit it off into the air in a shower of red sparks.

Ibiki appeared behind Naruto with a glare. "What." He said. It wasn't a question.

"I know something about you!" Naruto shouted, pointing at his face. "Your name is Ibiki!"

Ibiki rolled his eyes. "You have two hours and fifty nine minutes left."

Ibiki once again disappeared into nothingness, Naruto looking confused all the while.

Ibiki watched the three of them walk away from the building to the left of them, under a genjutsu so they couldn't see him.

 _That should motivate them._ He thought. _Shino and Hinata are motivated by encouragement, but Naruto is motivated by people saying he can't do something. The more you put him down, the more defiance he has to prove them wrong. Still, I need to do that in moderation. Too much of that and he won't try at all, not enough and he'll think he's god's gift to shinobi._

Ibiki briefly considered what to do if they didn't find anything, which they probably would. Ibiki supposed he would just tell them that he 'saw something in them' or whatever.

Either way, they were now moving down the street, and he had to track them.

Shino was not happy.

For one, he was stuck on a team with Naruto Uzumaki. And while he had no illusions to the _reason_ he acted the way he did, and even felt a great deal of sympathy for the boy, that by no means meant he wanted him on his own team. He would have preferred Shikamaru Nara as a teammate, or Sasuke Uchiha. While both had their issues, they were miles more competent than what he was stuck with.

For another thing, he had Hinata Hyuga on his team. Who, in his opinion, was no better than the Sasuke Uchiha fangirls that we're obsessed with boys and couldn't think of anything else. Hinata-san just seemed to be obsessed in another way.

For a third thing, the combination of both of these two people together were guaranteed to be much more headache inducing than individually.

And finally, He was not a genin. Even after years of studying and training, he still has to complete some arbitrary task for an insane sensei, with the possibility to start all over.

Shino sighed. _It is what it is, I suppose. Nothing to be done._

"Ok team! What do know about him? What can we use for a lead?" Naruto punched his hand in determination.

Hinata predictably didn't say anything.

"We seemed to be wearing a uniform." Shino offered.

"Eh? Like a Chunin uniform?" Naruto asked him.

"Perhaps." Shino allowed.

"Maybe it's a Jonin uniform? I didn't see any other senseis wearing them, but I guess they don't have too…" Naruto offered, a hand in a V sign on his chin in thought. They had all walked down the street together, around the in coming civilians and carters. Which, Shino noticed, was easy with the wide birth they were giving them.

"No." Shino told him. "I have met and seen Jonin many times, never have I seen any of them wearing the grey outfit."

"Mhhmmm…" Naruto hummed, seemingly unaware of the civilians actions. "Interesting…"

Shino was about to question him on if he had ever heard of a Jonin with two scars on his face, but surprisingly Hinata interrupted him with a timid voice.

"M-m-maybe we can check the Shinobi Archives? To see if he's listed?" She asked, head down and feet dragging behind her.

"Good job Hinata-chan! Man no wonder you never talk in class! You must already know so much!" Naruto smiled wide in an honest way, running off in front of them.

"Now! Off to the archives!" He screamed, kicking up dust as he went.

"Naruto-san. The archives are located in the file chamber, which is located west, the opposite of where you are going."

"Gak!" Naruto choked out as he came to a screeching halt.

"I knew that!" He told him, running back to his teammates. Hinata giggled softly, and Naruto rubbed his head bashfully.

Shino sighed again, but this time there was more amusement than annoyance in his breath.

 _You must already know so much!_

The words kept going through Hinata's head, over and over again. If they had come from anybody else, she would have thought they were mocking her, or just being nice, but Naruto-kun was too kind for that. Too honest. Too real.

They were coming up to the file chamber right at that point, the building being a quaint little thing, looking suspiciously small and unguarded for something so important.

Naruto went first, running in quickly. Shino followed right after, with Hinata last.

 _I hope we find something…_ She thought optimistically.

"Hey you!" Naruto pointed at the young chunin at the front desk. "We're looking for something!"

"We are looking to complete a task set out by us from our possible Jonin sensei. We must find one piece of information on him. Have you heard of a Ibiki Morino? And if possible can you provide his file?" Shino asked the lady.

"No. Get lost." She told them, she seemed busy reading a book.

"Come on! You don't have anything?" Naruto asked her.

She shook her head. "No, I'm sure we do. Its just that information is classified for actual Ninja, not would bes. So get lost."

Naruto growled low in his throat. "Hey! We need that file!"

The girl glared right back at him. "I said get lost! Can't you see I'm reading a book?"

Curious, Hinata activated her byakugan to look at what book she was reading behind the blank slip on book cover it had. She blushed deeply when she saw it was a "Makeout Paradise" book.

"Can you use your byakugan to look behind the door to the file room?" Shino whispered to her covertly.

Hinata shook her head. "N-no, I'm sorry. There's some really complex seals behind her on the door and walls, it won't let my eyes see through them."

Hinata's eyes widened. "B-b-but Shino-kun look!" She whispered. "I may not have too!" She pointed ahead of them to where Naruto was still arguing with the Chunin, he had discreetly made several hand signs under the counter and made some kind of clone.

Hinata was amazed when she saw the shadow the clone produced. _Normal clones don't have shadows!_ She thought.

The clone popped into existence under the counter, where the Chunin couldn't see it, and it crawled on the floor around her to the door.

Hinata's hope fell when she saw the door not open, it must have been locked.

But it rose again when the Naruto clone smoothly reached into its pouch and pulled out some lock picks, after about twenty seconds of wrangling with the lock, the door swung quietly open. The clone flashed the two of them a blinding smile and a thumbs up.

The real Naruto was still arguing with the Chunin.

After a few minutes the clone Naruto crawled back out of the door, and slid the file across the floor to Shino before poofing out of existance, who picked it up without a word.

"Well fine! We don't need your help anyway! Read your stinkin book!" Naruto yelled at the chunin angrily, spinning away and walking with Hinata and Shino out the door.

The blonde snuck them a foxy smile as they left.

As they reached a safe distance away from the building, Shino opened up the file and scanned through it.

"That was very Impressive Naruto-san." Shino told him. "Where did you learn that jutsu?"

Naruto grinned widely, putting both hands behind his head in a casual way. "Ah thanks Shino! And thats a secret! Hehe…"

"What does it say Shino-kun?" Hinata asked him.

Shino sighed. "Most of it is redacted, but the one thing that does seem to be public information is the fact that Ibiki san works in the Torture and Interrogation apartment. That should be sufficient."

"Ok then!" Naruto said, lighting off a flare in the middle of the street.

Very quickly, Ibiki fased into being right in front of them, making Naruto jump.

"You work in the Torture and Interrogation department Ibiki-sensei! Bet you didn't think we could do it, huh? But we did!" Naruto looked incredibly proud at himself, and for some reason, Shino and Hinata.

"Incorrect." Ibiki said.

"Excuse me?" Shino said, surprised.

"Yeah what gives!?" Naruto demanded.

"I _used_ to work in the T&I department. You have one hour left." Iniki said, And with that he left in a swirl of leaves.

They didn't know what to say as they watched him disappear. In seconds, their happiness had gone from all time highs, and into crashing lows.

"We need to go somewhere he has been." Shino said definitivly, a fire in his voice.

"Is there nothing else in the file?" Hinata asked him.

Shino shook his head silently. "No. Nothing except that piece of information." Hinata noticed a small piece of suspicion in his voice, but she brushed it off for now. There was no time.

Naruto got a look on his face. "Hey...if if someone worked in that torture place...they probably have a desk right?"

The other two were silent.

"Are...are you suggesting we break into the Torture department?" Shino asked, just to clarify.

Naruto nodded.

"But we don't even know where it is." Hinata said, confused.

"But what if we, like, told a ninja we have to find the place to, you know, torture somebody or something." Naruto shrugged.

More silence.

"We would have to use the transformation jutsu to give us chunin vests…" Hinata said hesitantly, wanting to support Naruto but unsure of the validity of the plan.

"And one of us will have to impersonate a criminal." Shino said, surprisingly supporting this crazy plan.

"Which we can use my shadow clone for!" Naruto said.

They looked at eachother, not sure what else to say.

Ibiki looked on in amusement at his students hatching their plan. While he had made sure to tell all the ANBU on duty at the file chamber not to kill any of them, He hadn't thought of the idea of them actually breaking into the T&I department.

 _This certainly should be fun._ He thought.

 _And I should probably tell everyone at the department not to attack them, except maybe a few intern genin._ He figured as an afterthought.

He stalked them through the village, happy to watch them figure things out.

After several minutes of planning, they came up with a rough outline of what to do.

They all use the Transformation Jutsu to give them Chunin vests.

Naruto's clone transforms a nameless civilian.

They find a ninja, who tells them where T&I is, under the guise of trying to bring the clone to interrogation.

Naruto sneaks into the place, Shino and Hinata bring clone to interrogation.

Leave?

Become Genin.

To be added.

"This is so annoying!" Clone Naruto complained from his position over Shino's shoulder. "I look so boring!" He said

"Shhh!" Shino shushed him as they finally came across a Chunin eating at a dango stand.

"Excuse me, Ninja-san." Hinata said, tapping hik on the shoulder.

He turned around, dango still in mouth. "Hmm?"

"We are requesting directions to the Torture and Interrogation building. We have apprehended a civilian man who had attempted to impersonate a Chunin, which, as I'm sure you are aware, a crime."

The man, who looked to be an Akimichi with the light brown hair and bulky build, gave an amused look to the trio.

"Yes. That it is." He said. "The buildings on 36th street, the large one with red roofing and yellow walls. When you get there give the password D-pool, to the guy manning the door." And with that he went back to his food, not paying them any mind.

They raced none to subtly to 36th street, quickly finding the building and walking up to the front door.

Privately, Shino found it odd that they were apparently supposed to transport a prisoner through the front door of such a building, which seemed so normal that it almost didn't make sense, but he kept his thoughts to himself. No need to stir the pot after all.

"Man its weird how such a creepy building has such bright colors. Don't ya think Hinata-chan?" Naruto asked.

Hinata made an 'eeep!ing noise, but still responded. "Ye-yes Naruto-kun. Very strange."

As they reached the front, Shino turned to the doorman, Naruto clone still over his shoulder.

"Hello. The password is D-pool." Shino told the man at the front. The man, most likely a disguised ninja of some kind, looked suspicious but let them in any way.

As they walked through the door and into a long hallway, they looked around at the cobblestone walls and dark stained wooden floor boards.

It certainly didn't _look_ like the outside, that was for sure. But that was probably the point.

Just as they were about to round a corner, Shino stopped them by putting hands over their shoulders.

"Wait. My kikaichu are reporting back to me that there are a pair of two ninja, chakra levels indicate Genin, approaching from this way at high speeds. They seem to be emitting angry and hostile waves of energy, implying that they are looking for trespassers. Most likely us."

Naruto and Hinata froze.

"Ok here's the plan! I fight them off, and you guys go find Ibiki's desk and see what you can find, ok? Cool! Lets go!" Naruto moved forward, but Shino used both hands to hold him back.

"No. Chances are this will come to a physical fight, and I am already extracting the chakra from the Genin, so statistically we would most likely succeed if I stayed behind. You must go as you seem to have presented high stealth and infiltration skills."

Naruto scratched his head. "Ok, so Hinata can come with me then. She can use her white eye thingie to help find it!"

Hinata shook her head in complete, honest regret. "No Naruto-kun, just like before, my eyes wont work here. The entire building is lined with byakugan suppressing seals. I should stay here to fight if it comes to that."

Naruto glared, clearly wanting to fight, but relented. Quickly, he ran down the hall, into the darkness.

Shino unceremoniously dropped the Henged clone off his back, ignoring the disgruntled 'Hey!' It said as it went down and popped.

And just in time too, as the two Genin, one girl and one boy, both with black hair and dark skin, and both in the same grey outfit Ibiki wore, found them.

"Hey brats!" Said the boy. "What're you doing here?!" The girl formed a single hand sign, and with a pulse of chakra, dispearses their transformations.

"Genin aren't allowed in here! Come with us or we'll have to force you!" They both took threatening steps towards them, pulling out kunai.

Hinata's byakugan flared, and she took a step in front of Shino, surprising him.

She readied herself into a jyuken stance, and steeled herself for a fight she knew she couldn't win.

Meanwhile, Naruto had quickly sent out a sosen clones of himself to look for the office.

 _Come on come on!_ The main Naruto thought. _Where is it!?_

He kept running through the never ending maze of halls and doors, whenever he would see a ninja, he would turn a corner and run back, making sure to use an old trick Hokage-Ji Ji taught him when he was little to mask his chakra.

Just when he was losing hope, a clone tapped him on the shoulder and gestured behind him. Together, they walked back to where several other clones were attempting to break into an office, on the wall it said 'M. Ibiki. Head of Finances and Torture.'

 _Thats some mixed bag of titles._ Naruto sweatdropped, while he watched three of his clones try to break the lock on the door. It looked complicated, more complicated than any civilian door he had broken into for pranks, or even the one at tye file chamber. This one seemed to be incredibly complex.

 _I just hope I can crack it in time…_ Naruto thought.

Hinata dodged a small fireball, thrown from the palm of the girl, and raced forward to give a jab into her stomach, just as she was about to strike, her wrist was grabbed by the boy, pushing her away.

She rolled as she landed on the ground, coming up just in time to dodge a kunai swipe from the girl. They worked in perfect synchronization.

The girl moved in for a kick, but a swarm of Shino's bugs overtook her, pushing her back.

But they were not too shabby themselves.

She smiled at Shino, who gave her a nod before jumping into fight the boy. Hinata went after the girl.

The girl flashed through twelve hand seals, before blasting out four more fireballs at Hinata's feet, she danced around the attack, jumping and weaving through the blasts. Until Hinata threw a fistful of shuriken at the girls head, she ducked, and went in for a punch to the gut, that was her mistake. As soon as the girl started to engage in taijutsu, Hinata was able to weave in and out of her attacks like water, landing several glancing blows on her elbows and ribs, but that was enough.

The girl dubbled over, breathing heavily in pain. Hinata was about to deliver the knockout blow to the back of her head, when a heavy weight slammed into her. She skidded across the wood hallway, landing near a wall. She looked up to see Shino had been the thing thrown into her.

"I apologize, Hinata-san." He told her, and Hinata winced. He didn't look good. There were several bruises forming on his face and neck, and he seemed to have developed a bloody nose.

"It's fine Shino-kun." She told him, letting him help her up. "Are you ok?" She asked him. He gave a stiff nod.

Just then, faster than she could react, four kunai were thrown at Hinata, nothing more than a blur in the dimly lit area. Just as quickly, a wave of twitching black swarmed in front of her, taking the blow.

Shino's bugs flew on the ground at their attackers, who jumped back.

"How are their chakra levels?" She asked him. He shook his head. "Not good for us. They have more chakra than I anticipated, and while we are all moving, it is difficult to absorb it as fast as I regularly could." He told her.

She nodded grimly. "T-that makes sense. Is there anything I can do?" Hinata asked him.

Shino nodded without hesitation. "If possible, pin them down with your taijutsu. That should let me focus enough to get their chakra quickly."

 _Pin them down?_ She wondered. _Alone?_ But she didn't object, even though she was doubtful of her abilities. She just dashed forward at chakra enhanced speeds, hoping to catch them off guard.

Naruto inwardly and outwardly cursed as his clones failed to unlock the hatch. It was aggravating, hard, and annoying. One clone even popped from the strain on his hands, Naruto quickly had to take over.

"Damn it!" He shouted into the empty halls. "This'll never work!"

One clone nodded. "Yeah, we need another way in."

"Can we break the door down?" Clone three asked. Naruto shook his head.

"No, no...it's metal see? We can't break that."

They all sighed, but jumped when they heard angry footsteps running towards them.

"Shit!" One said. "I knew you shouldn't've yeled!" The clone punched Naruto in the back of his head, dispelling himself with the force of the hit.

"Ow…" NAruto rubbed his head anxiously.

 _Guys...I'm gonna get this. I promise._ He thought.

Hinata gave the two genin a flurry of japs, all seemingly random but entirely calculated on where they were least prepared. She could tell Shino's bugs were doing their magic, as they were slowing down further and further the more she went on.

She gave three quick jabs to the girls thigh, and spun to deliver an elbow to the boys nose, she had them up against the wall at this point, and was giving them all she had. But she could feel her own measly chakra pool dwindling, and her hands were starting to shake and cramp with the strain of so many attacks. She knew if they just got one solid hit in, she'd be down, but she couldn't stop, not when Shino was trying so hard to help her, and Naruto was doing his best to find the office, no she couldn't let them down like that. She had to push harder.

And so she did, she pushed, and pushed, and pushed, until the boy finally collapsed to the ground, and the girl got struck with a devastating blow to the back of the head, knocking her out too. She looked down at her opponents with hazy eyes, before collapsing on the ground in a heap, she was caught just before she did by the warm blanket of Shino's bugs, and laid gently on the ground.

Shino sighed as he looked at the defeated Genin, finally taking a breath. He then collapsed onto the ground as well from chakra exhaustion, quickly caught by a large framed man in a black jacket and bandana.

 _Ibiki?_ He wondered, just before he blacked out.

"I got it!" One Naruto clone said, just as he heard the footsteps come upon them. "Make a shadow clone in there!" He pointed inside the door.

"But then I'll just be out here!" With him, went unsaid.

The clone shrugged. "You got a better idea boss? The hours almost up!" Naruto hesitated, but nodded, quickly making the hand signs for a shadow clone. He turned around to congratulate the already existing one, but he was just being popped, and Naruto came face to face with a _very_ angry Genin's fist.

Inside the office, the clone was rummaging through the drawers looking for something, anything, to show to Ibiki.

"Got it!" He said as he pulled out an old, slightly yellowish picture of three young Genin and a silver haired, smiling sensei in a ponytail. Labeled on the back was 'Sakumo Sensei and Team.'

"YES I GOT SOMETHING!" Naruto yelled out as he clutched the picture to his chest.

"Yes. Yes you did, and with just five minutes to spare." Naruto turned around to see the pleased face of his new sensei, Ibiki. "Good job kid. Now goodnight." Ibiki flicked the top of the clones head, dispealing it.

When they all woke up, they were laying on the red tiled roof of the T&I building. As they arose, they looked to see the cross legged figure of Ibiki sitting in front of them.

"D-did we pass?" Hinata asked carefully as she pushed herself up.

"Uh-huh…" Naruto groaned, rubbing his head. He seemed to have a nasty black eye.

"I got the info...all ninja like and everything…" He said groggily.

"Naruto-kun!" Hinata said in concern, running over to him to check if he was ok.

"I'm fine don't worry, Hinata-chan. This should be gone by morning."

Hinata didn't look too convinced, but didn't say anything else, only looked at him in worry.

"Glasses." Shino mumbled, finally waking up. "Where are my glasses?"

"Here." Ibiki said, tossing them to him.

As Shino stumbled to catch them, Ibiki looked on at his new team with not a small amount of pride.

"I didn't think you would do it." Ibiki told them coldy.

"Oi!" Naruto shouted. "Who do you think you are to talk that way to the future Hokage of Konoha and his awesome team mates?!"

Ibiki rolled his eyes. "Your sensei."

Hinata beamed, and so did Shino, in his own way. "So it's true?" She asked. "We passed?"

Ibiki nodded, standing up. "Yes. Training starts tomorrow. But for now, go home. Rest."

He turned to jump, but stopped himself, "You did good today. All of you. But don't go around pretending to be chunin anymore. Thats a crime, ya know." And with that he was gone.

The three newly minted Genin simply stared at the place he was in shock for a few moments, before it sunk in.

"YATTA!" Naruto jumped up in joy.

"We did it!"

"Yes." Shino nodded, quite pleased with himself. "You did tremendous...both of you." He said to them.

Hinata blushed, and quietly thanked him, seemingly back to her mute demeanor.

"Ah! I'm starving! You guys want o go get some Ramen?" Naruto asked them.

They both looked at eachother, then back at him in indecisiveness. "To be truthful, I am very tired." Shino said. "And I would wish to take a bath and sleep."

Hinata nodded regretfully. "And my father will be very upset if I'm not home soon. I'm really sorry Naruto-kun. Maybe tomorrow?"

Naruto nodded easily. "Yeah sure! See ya guys!" He waved to them. Shino jumped off the building with a nod, headed to the Aburame clan compound.

Hinata hesitated for a second, but jumped in the opposite way.

And then Naruto was alone again.

Naruto could barley contain his exitment. Ibiki-Sensei had sent them a message to meet at this location, in the middle of the woods, and he was sure to get here early, for once. He had healed up by this point, and was ready for action.

He breathed in, preparing to yell to Ibiki-Sensei how awesome he was, before he took a moment to observe the sounds. It was completely silent. Other than the occasional tweet of a bird or scurry of a chipmunk, the clearing was peacefully silent. Even Naruto had the sense of mind to keep it that way.

He glanced at Shino, who was meditating in a tree, some short distance away. Naruto considered going over to him to say, in a quiet tone, but if he was being honest, the kid creeped him out. Not only for the normal reasons he would creep someone out, either. Sure, he was tall, and broad shouldered, which gave him a certain sense of unease, but more than that it was the sense that when he looked at you through those dark, dark sunglasses, he knew everything about you. Like he had studied you and knew all your secrets. Naruto always thought in the academy the constant buzzing that came from his kikaichu seemed to mock him for not knowing things.

 _Skip._ Naruto thought decidedly. Moving on to his next teammate. It didn't take long for him to find Hinata, she was standing out in the open field, gaze on the horizon, her hands doing that thing she always did, the fiddly thing where she pressed her fingers together.

Naruto casually walked up to her, wondering what he should say. _Maybe just a quiet, nice greeting?_ He thought. Hinata didn't seem to be the type of girl to appreciate a loud hello.

"HI HINATA-CHAN!" Naruto called out to her when he got to her.

"AHHH!" Hinata screamed in pure fright from Naruto popping up outta nowhere, at least to her, and she whipped out three shuriken from her pouch on pure instinct, throwing them in the general direction of Naruto.

Naruto ducked the shuriken, eyes wide, and looked at Hinata's now very red face.

Naruto tilted his head at her frightful expression, _Whats her problem?_ He thought.

"Na-Naruto-kun." She stammered out.

"Sorry Hinata-Chan." Naruto said with a mischievous grin. "You're so red!" He laughed. "You look like a little baby tomato!"

If possible, Hinata turned even more scarlet.

 _Calm down, Hinata._ She told herself. _Breath. Just...breath._ Slowly Hinata breathed in through her nose and out through her mouth. _You are a kunoichi, there is no place to be childish._

Gradually, the color left her face, and she gave her crush a shaky smile. "H-hello. Naruto kun. I apologize for my behavior. You simply startled me."

Naruto jumped up from his position, his fox like grin magnifying. "That's fine, I'm pretty sneaky. Sometimes I don't even mean to be and I creep up on someone. Sucks to be them right? Haha, I'm the best."

"Are you now?" A gruff voice from behind them said in a bland manor. "First I've heard of it."

"Ah!" Naruto jumped up, and spun around to see the towering figure of his new Sensei looming over him. The scars that Naruto could see creeping up and out over his face flexed as he scowled. Hinata, the traitor, giggled behind him.

"Aburame! Get your ass over here!" He shouted to the Aburame, who was already running over. As he got here, the large man looked them all over, finding himself physically unable to resist a nasty expression as he looked at them.

 _I've got a lot of work to do._

"Sit down." He simply said to the three of them. Shino and Hinata were smart enough, but Naruto stubbornly stood. Ibiki rolled his eyes and put his hand on his shoulder, forcing him to the ground.

Still standing up, Ibiki started to talk."Now. I first off I want to commend you three for your work yesterday. Not just anybody could have done what you did." Naruto beamed like a blazing sun, And Hinata smiled softly, bending her head to the ground, Shino simply nodded.

"However, taking that into account. I want a detailed report by tomorrow on what you could have done better."

"What?!" Naruto wailed. "Homework!? Come on we're Ninja, not academy students! I ain't doing that!" Very quickly, Ibiki put a stop to that kind of behavior with a quick smash to the head with his fist, rolling the genin back several feet.

"I will not tolerate that kind of behavior in my squad, Uzumaki. Nor will I from either of you two. Until you have either earned a higher rank, been removed from Team 6, or earned my respect in other ways. You will complete any task, big or small, without halt or resistance." His gaze softened just a tad as he looked at the young minds in front of him.

"You can complain of course, complaining is human. But you can not be allowed to disobey orders. It's a danger to you, me, and the entire village."

The three of them nodded in unison, and Ibiki returned the nod, satisfied.

"Now." He started. "Our training week will work like this. Monday through Wednesday we will work on purley spars. We will switch between you all fighting me, or you fighting each other. These spars will be all out, anything allowed." He paused, looking at their shocked reactions.

It was sad, in a way, how the Academy taught it's students how things were and were not allowed in combat. How you had to wait for the fight to start, and how they were usually on the clock. How, even with an enemy you must always show mercy. He inwardly snorted.

 _We aren't damn samurai, and the sooner the Hokage realizes that, the better._

"Thursday and Friday you will be training individually with me or my shadow clones on your skills and tactics. Today is obviously Thursday, so we'll be doing that. On Saturdays you will be given a simple mission, something along the lines of retrieving a scroll, or infiltrating a house. These will be unpaid, in village assignments designed for you to learn to work together and solve problems. Sunday will be your rest day."

Naruto raised his hand and waved it around in the air, but Ibiki continued.

"We will be training from 10:00 am to 7:00 pm, stopping for a quick lunch break at 3:00, and will meet here. You are expected to do any remedial physical exercise both in the morning, and when you go to bed. Once I deem your skill levels to be acceptable, we will be taking one week off every month to take C or B ranked missions, any questions?"

Naruto waved his hand more frantically, almost hitting Shino's glasses off. Ibiki sighed. "Naruto you don't have to raise your hand. You are not in school, and while I am your superior, we are equals in the way that we both fight for Konoha. Speak your mind."

Naruto nodded quickly. "Well I was just wondering, Sensei, how am I supposed to pay my bills without missions at first? Now that I'm a shinobi, they took away my monthly orphan fund, so I gotta pay the bills somehow." Naruto seemed somewhat embarrassed at having to ask the question, but did it anyway, more in self preservation than anything else.

Hinata gasped lightly at Naruto's words, and looked at him anxiously. She had known, of course, that Naruto was an orphan, and she even knew of his less than equitable financial situation, but hearing it seemed to be painful to her.

Shino raised two eyebrows in surprise. Not that it was economically unstable to be an orphan, he knew that, but about the fact that Naruto had asked such a reasonable question. As well as the idea that Konoha would let someone, one of their shinobi no less, go without income simply because they were a legal adult.

Ibiki nodded seriously, showing he understood Naruto's strife. "Well, Shino and Hinata are both future clan heads, but for you...I'm willing to take out some of my personal wealth and give it to you Naruto. Only a small amount, really just enough to live without falling into poverty, but it should be enough."

Naruto didn't know what to say, for someone to be willing to do something so generous for him...it really spoke volumes of the man his sensei was.

"Thank you Ibiki Sensei! You won't regret it! I'm gonna become the best student you ever had! Believe it!" Naruto bowed deeply, hiding his watering eyes.

Ibiki felt the small beginnings of barley a smile form at the corner of his lip, threatening to overtake him. "I'm sure. Now you three each follow one of my clones, I will be right back."

Quickly making three shadow clones, the genin split off from each other, all going with the one to different edges of the clearing.

The real Ibiki looked at his watch, he still had five minutes to T&I, for a Ninja, that was a lifetime.

Over with Shino, he was observing his Sensei with keen eyes, attempting to decipher the puzzle that he was. He walked with a sturdy, straight step, back stiff. No movement was wasted, but he seemed to glide along the earth with making nary a sound.

He seemed strict and calloused, but was kind enough to do what he did for Naruto. He seemed to believe in the hierarchy of the village, but considered them equals in a way.

He very clearly seemed dangerous, but his name 'Morino', was not from any prominent clan, or even one he guessed he would have ever heard if he was not put on his team. Truly, the man baffled Shino.

As they came upon a heavily wooded area in the forest, Ibiki gestured for Shino to sit down. As he did, Shino was shocked yet again as Ibiki joined him between two trees.

"Why are you a ninja, Shino?" In reality, Ibiki already knew the answer, more or less, but he wanted to hear it from him. And he also knew that here, among the trees, in nature, is where he would be most comfortable opening up.

"Because it is my duty." Shino responded. "Because I was born into it." His sensei shook his head in two short, jagged movements.

"No. Those are the reasons you were taught to say. But we both know there is more. We both know there is a reason you stayed a shinobi, despite the hardships. Despite the inevitable early death."

"It is my duty." Shino replied, brows slightly furrowed in confusion.

"You could have just as easily said no. Your clan is one of the more lenient on weather it allows their clansman to become civilians, such is the reason you don't see that many aburame around, comparatively speaking."

Shino didn't respond for several seconds. "Perhaps I feel indebted." He admitted.

Ibiki faked a curious sound of contemplation. "Hmm? How so?"

"During the warring clans era, my ancestors were almost wiped out. After hundreds of years of fighting amongst ourselves and traveling, Konoha welcomed us with open arms. Despite our...less than honorable stature and prestige in the world, we were given a place where we could foster amongst the trees, given a many insects for our work, and a home to lay our wounded."

Ibiki nodded fake thoughtfully. "So you feel as if it is your duty, on your honor, to give back to the village? And this is how you believe you can do that?"

"Yes. After the Kyuubi attack, and then the Uchiha massacre, the village was in pain. And I knew, that I had to help. I knew I had to help the village heal."

"Heal?" Inquired Ibiki. "Is that something you are interested in? Healing?"

Shino was silent. Taking the initiative to continue, Ibiki pressed on. "You would make a magnificent iryo nin if that's what you're looking to do." Opening a containment seal on his arm, Shino's file puffed into existence, falling into his hand.

"These academy records show nearly perfect scores on the written, and scientific work of class." Ibiki remarked as he flipped it open. "And your chakra control is impeccable. Add that to your kikaichu having the ability to transfer chakra from one source to another...well all squads could use a medic on the team."

Shino thought about it. He did not personally believe that is what he should become, but he was not going to argue with a commanding officer. Perhaps his parents could sway his opinion?

 _I will have to converse with my father and mother on the matter._ Shino decided.

Understanding that Shino would have to think to come up with a decision, Ibiki drew out several papers within the document, handing them over to Shino.

"Here. These are some basic healing techniques, both chakra and non chakra based. I suggest looking them over so you can get a feel for what you want, maybe talk to your clan about the idea."

Shino bowed his head just slightly, respecting the request/order while at the same time promising to follow through on it.

Little did Shino know, that Ibiki had already met with Shino's parents last night under the guise of a mission, asking them to sway their son in the direction of becoming medical ninja. It had taken some persuasion, and more than a little bribery, but they had agreed under the terms of several thousand ryo and a rare, poisonous bug that Ibiki had captured in Wood Country, whose venom was said to be more painful than 50,000 fire ants crawling into your skin.

A small price to pay in the grand scheme of things, but Ibiki was willing to do anything to make this team survive, including backhanded dealings.

Interestingly enough, Shino's parents never once asked him why he desired their son to be an iryo-nin.

 _Perhaps they did not want to know anything that could be hazardous to their health?_ Ibiki thought amusedly.

Over with Naruto, Ibiki was stewing in his own annoyance at the blondes constant yammering.

"And that's why I'm gonna be Hokage!" Naruto finished with a self satisfied grin. Ibiki had honestly tuned him out, having heard the same spiel several times on his reconnaissance missions.

Before Naruto could start up again, Ibiki held up a hand, silencing him. "You're a long ways away from that hat, Uzumaki. Now if you want to become Hokage. You first need to focus on what you are good at. What are you good at then?"

Naruto paused, nobody had ever asked him what he was _good_ at. Everyone seemed to just talk about what he was bad at. His fox like grin blew up on his face once more. "I'm an awesome ninja! I'm the best at taijutsu, and ninjutsu, and genjutsu, and kenjutsu, and all the other jutsu-s!"

Ibiki shook his head stonily, his expression neutral. "No. Reports say that your Ninjutsu was barley average, taijutsu way below that, and genjutsu worst in the class. I asked what are you _good_ at?"

Naruto shook his head vehemently. "No! Look I just learned this awesome jutsu called the shadow clone and-" Ibiki interrupted him again.

"While that is impressive, it does not necessarily give you an advantage in combat or otherwise. At your rudimentary level, a handful of shadow clones will not give you enough of an advantage to succeed, and any more could have significant mental drawbacks such as migranes, or black out's."

Naruto's face fell at his brutal description of his skills. Hesitantly, he spoke up. "I'm really good at pranks." He said shamefully, as if people had told him his whole life that wasn't an equitable skill. Which, Ibiki supposed, it wouldn't be anywhere but here.

"Pranks you say?" Ibiki said with artificial surprise. "So you are skilled in trap making?" Naruto nodded excitedly at the word 'skilled', like a dog, or a small child.

"Yeah sure! Totally! Did you see the paintings over the Hokage monument? That was me, dattebayo!" Ibiki raised an honest eyebrow at that, he actually hadn't seen it, but he had heard about it.

"Oh? The Hokage monument is heavily guarded with Chunin and Genin alike, how were you able to slip past them?"

Naruto waved his hand flippantly. "Oh those guys? They were chumps! All I had to do was write down when they switched positions! Then I just did this neat trick where you just kinda compress your chakra into this little ball in my gut so it doesn't fly all over the place! Ji ji taught me when I was a kid so I would be better at hide and seek!"

(Inwardly Ibiki briefly wondered how Naruto managed to get any children to play with him given his little tenant, and why it would even be necessary for him to learn it considering most children at that age couldn't sense chakra to begin with. He had a feeling the Hokage had ulterior motives.)

Ibiki was mildly surprised. What he was essentially describing was holding together the chakra in your body so its natural pulsing couldn't attract any ninja. It was a chunin level stealth technique, at least. He had expected Naruto to be at least mildly skilled in the area, just not to this extent.

"So you are a stealth, infiltration, and trapping except than." Ibiki decided. "That is what we will focus on, outside of your remedial taijutsu training. Once you are good enough at that, I will begin teaching you basic jutsu."

Naruto hesitated, after all, he wanted to learn Jutsu _now._ But Ibiki-sensei believed he was good at something, and he would be damned if he wasted that. So he nodded in agreement.

Ibiki couldn't keep his grin off his face. _It's all going according to plan._ He thought.

"If that's what we're gonna do then, I'll take pleasure burning that jumpsuit of yours. Orange has no place in stealth." Ibiki added as an afterthought.

"WHAT?! NO DEAL THEN!" Naruto proclaimed loudly, crossing his arms. Ibiki chuckled.

Off with Hinata, the third Ibiki was having a tougher time starting a conversation. He had managed to force a comforting, fatherly smile on his face, one that didn't match with his dark and brooding outfit.

"How are you Hinata?" Ibiki began. Hinata seemed to pale for whatever reason at the question.

"G-Good." She said simply, seemingly unwilling to say anything else. Keeping the smile on his face, Ibiki attempted tactic two.

"I was looking through your records, Hinata, and I must say, I'm very impressed." It was a lie, he was only mildly impressed. Her anxiety and fear completely controls and telegraphs her moves, making her worse than she really is, but this wasn't about truth, it was about boosting her confidence.

"Your taijutsu was almost top of the class, and your chakra control unparalleled. It's no wonder you have a fan." Ibiki gestured across the field to Naruto and the other Ibiki, who were engaged in what looked to be a rancorous discussion on the positive and negative effects of Ramen noodles.

Hinata blushed darkly. "Naruto kun?" She said in somewhat reverence. "A fan of me?" Ibiki nodded.

"Yes, in a way. As you are aware, young Naruto has had quite a few struggles in his life, and from what I hear, he gains inspiration through young people like him going through struggles of their own." Ibiki said, Hinata looked at him with amazement.

"Bu-but...I've always gained inspiration from _him._ " Hinata said. Ibiki hummed thoughtfully as they continued to walk.

"Whoever said inspiration had to be a one way street?" He said simply.

"Naruto sees you as someone who has gone through much in your young life, and remained kind and compassionate. It's likely that his own strength came from you, and yours from him, a beautiful cycle really."

Hinata couldn't help but stare at Naruto across the field in a whole new light. To think... Naruto, her hero, drew even a small amount of strength from her...the feeling was indescribable.

In reality Ibiki would guess Naruto didn't even know Hinata's name before very recently. But that didn't matter, what mattered was stitching up Hinata's broken self confidence.

"Your teammates would make excellent support members, Hinata. But that would mean we still need someone to be our main combat specialist." Ibiki pressed on, seeing that he was getting somewhere.

"And you think that has to be me?" She said shyly as she pressed her fingers together.

 _Good, the stutter is gone for now. But I'll have to do something about those hands,_

"I think it _should_ be you." Ibiki corrected. "Naruto could make a good combat specialist, eventually, but for now he's best as a support. You however, are a prodigy at taijutsu born to a clan of taijutsu prodigies. The team would thrive with you as it's point."

Even he had to hold back a chuckle at his embellishment. Even without her self confidence issues, she would be good, but not _that_ good.

 _Doesn't matter though._ Ibiki thought. _I'll make her that good._

"So how about it Hinata? Would you mind becoming our taijutsu specialist, maybe with a few genjutsu thrown in there for good measure?"

A fire was lit in Hinata's eyes, her confidence higher than she could ever remember it being. "I'll do it." She said. "For the team."

Ibiki nodded, satisfied. He was sure one day he was going to hell for manipulating their lives like this, but for now he couldn't care less, it was for their own good, and the good of the village, if they turned out the way he planned.

With the real Ibiki, things were looking significantly less bright. Both literally and figuratively as he walked through the halls of the T&I department, looking for his prisoner. As he came across the cell door labeled, 'PRISONER 34-C13', he walked in, locking the door behind him and turning on the lights with a snap.

He looked at the bound and bagged man in front of him, not even given a chair, simply chained to the concrete ground, chakra suppressing seals surrounding him. The man seemed to panic at the sound, struggling fruitlessly against binds.

The clank of Ibiki's metal boots on the ground sent shivers up the man's spine, but he was sure he would be fine. He had trained for this, after all.

"You know I'm actually retired?" Asked Ibiki retoracly. He didn't respond, of course.

"Yes after fourteen long years as head of this place, I finally got a genin team. Can you believe that?"

Ibiki pulled over a chair from the corner, letting it scrape harshly against the floor, before sitting down casually.

"Do they have those over there? Genin teams?" Ibiki asked conversationally. "Or do all of you just become ninja as adults, already deserters of another home?"

The man still didn't respond.

"Yeah I can't believe they pulled me out of retirement for you, of all people. I was sure the Yamanaka boys could take care of this one, but you seem to be a tough nut to crack, eh? You don't look like much at least, so I don't know."

The man squirmed from his position on the ground, legs kicking out underneath him, as if trying to run.

Ibiki chuckled darkly. "Yeah they always say that."

In one quick movement, Ibiki grabbed the chains around the man's arms, pulling him closer and whipping the bag off his head.

The man made a gasping, gurgling sound at the quick movement, eyes adjusting to the light. He opened his mouth to speak on instinct, but found he was unable to, as they had removed his tongue and teeth.

"No hidden seals or cyanide pills to help you now, scum. It's just you and me. You aren't going anywhere." Ibiki smiled like a shark, ready to eat his prey. "But.."

"You still have your fingers, which means you can tap code. Which means we're gonna become fast friends."

Ibiki reached up and ripped the Sound headband off his forehead, throwing across the room. "So are you gonna tell me what Sound is doing allied with Suna? Or am I going to have to get physical?"

The man whimpered. And for the rest of the night, the sounds of screaming could he head all throughout T&I.

Late that night, well after dark and slightly into the morning, Ibiki returned from the cell, smelling of blood and soot. He wiped a splatter of blood off his coat, walking past the chunin guard. "It's confirmed, Sound is working with Suna. Providing shinobi in exchange for housing and resources."

The chunin glanced inside the room at the bloodied, heaving mess of the Ninja, cringing. He turned back to the retreating form of Ibiki, "You still have to write and file a report! And who's gonna clean this up?!"

The chunin couldn't see Ibiki's smirk. "I'll have my shadow clone do the report! And make sure to bring that P.O.W back to holding!" The chunin glared at his superior officer, but knew he couldn't do anything.

"Son of a bitch." He muttered as he went to grab a mop from the wall. "Jonin always leave the dirty jobs to us chunin."

Ibiki settled into the bar seat, lifting up two fingers, as was the signal for a regular sake. He glanced to the side to see a spandex clad bulky man do one handed push ups from the ground, several jonin looking on with wry amusement.

Ibiki sipped his drink calmly, enjoying the bitter taste. It must be a new special tonight, Ibiki figured, because he could see out of his peripheral that a shinobi couple was sharing a red bean dip, something not on the menu.

He waited as he could hear Gai continue to do more and more push ups. He seemed to be intoxicated, which would make this all the more easy. Just to make sure though, he raised his arm to the server, and gestured to Gai, motioning for Ibiki to buy him a drink. The man compiled without question. As he heard Gai grab the drink from the bartender with a loud exclamation of youth, drinking it swiftly, Ibiki fingered the straw in his drink with his thumb, spinning it slightly.

Ibiki made sure not to drink too much of his glass, purposefully leaving him sober and ready for action. He could hear traitorously soft footsteps pad their way over to the bar, and Gai's counting stopped at the same time. Gai must be getting a water.

Turning out of his seat and throwing some cash on the counter, with his drink up to his lips, Ibiki walked much too casually past Gai, letting his lanky elbow to strike Ibiki's arm as he passed, forcing Ibiki's drink to splash all over his face.

"Oh I'm so sorry my friend! That was most unyou-unyah-unyouthful of mee. Sorry Mr. Torture man." Gai told Ibiki with the most serious face he had ever seen on him. Kurenai and Genma snickered behind him.

Ibiki glared in fake anger, clenching his fist and taking a step forward, grabbing fistful of Gai's shirt.

"I"ve been working damn hard all day just so we don't get fucking invaded, and this is what you people give me?! Fuck you Gai." Ibiki wiped his face off and pushed Gai away, walking past him.

The bushy browed man snagged his shoulder before he could though, spinning him around with a strength that could make a Kage jealous. "I'm trufuly sorry, san-Ibiki, I mean...Ibiki-san." Gai looked honestly apologetic as he forced Ibiki to stay where he was, when Ibiki attempted to move the hand from his shoulder, he found he couldn't.

"My honor demands that I repay you, my friend! I must repair this broken bond between us!" Gai, the youthful man that he was, was openly crying tears of sorrow in the bar, several other Jonin looking on with amusement.

"Really?" Ibiki asked with false suspicion. He had been counting on this after all. "A favor?" He asked.

"Yesth." Gai said. "I will do anything!"

"Would you train my student?" Ibiki asked.

Gai paused, swaying sightly, before grinning wildly. "Ah! I was wondering why you were here, Mr. Torture man! You want me to do your work for you! No runder you were so clumsy!"

Ibiki raised an eyebrow, he hadn't exactly expected this to work, but it was worth a try. "I don't want you to do anything for me. While I'm good at taijutsu, it's not what I'm amazing at. You are. So how about you train HInata Hyuga with all that you know in Taijutsu and I'll teach whatever yu want to one of your students."

Gai scoffed, non believing. It looked odd on his normally joyful face. "My studenths are purfect the way they are, Ibiki. They don't need help from anyone or anything."

Ibiki didn't comment on their numerous problems, both as individuals, and as a team, allowing for Gai to continue.

"Buuut...I still spilledted my drink on you. So I will teach Hinata-chan the ways of, YOUTH!" He stopped, stumbling backwards for a moment.

"At least for a little bit." Gai continued. "Now! We are even! So go! I don't want to look at your face anymore!" Gai said adamantly, pushing him away with the force of an elephant.

Ibiki stumbled back, nodding, before walking out the door. He checked his pocket as he did, grinning when he saw the running recorder. Yep, he got that all on aduio.

 _Not like Gai would back out, but best to make sure._

 **Hey again, make sure to review! It really supports me and my content! Thanks for reading and have a nice day!**


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